When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
- Audre Lorde

Eros from an Athenian vase 490 BC

As women, we need to examine the ways in which our world can be truly different. I am speaking here for the necessity of reassessing the quality of all the aspects of our lives and of our work, and of how we move toward and through them.
The very word erotic comes from the Greek word eros – the personification of love in all its aspects – born of Chaos, and personifying creative power and harmony. When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as an assertion of the life force of women; of that creative energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives.

~ Audre Lourde from Uses of the Erotic as Power

Song for You

There is a very pretty Emmylou Harris song in my head that keeps going round and round. So I'll sing it for you here:

If I had a bird, a little bird

I would teach that bird to sing your name

Prettiest song that you have ever heard

Your indifferent heart I will claim

So be off my little bird

Fly away, fly away

And when my love you see

Only then, my little bird

Cry away, cry away and bring that heart to me

If I had a moon in the sky

I would light the world and pull the tide

And when the moon is full, like my heart

It will surely pull you to my side

But in the darkest night I pine away, pine away

Until your face I see

So throw your light my lovely moon

Shine away, shine away and pull his heart to me

If l had a wagon made of gold

Pretty painted horses numbered four

With a silver harness I would hitch them up

And drive that wagon to your door

And if my hand you choose to hold

Ride away, ride away with the pretty horses four

But darlin' if you heart is cold

Hide away, hide away I’ll trouble you no more

Trouble you no more

Emmylou Harris/Kate McGarrigle/Anna McGarrigle

Historic Art Moment

Ive always loved this vintage piece honoring the famous crafty and soulful magician who outsmarted even the meanest.

Thanksgiving

Gratitude is a holy thing to celebrate, as are true cross-cultural peaceful relations. The sincere offering of Thanks for the blessings that abound in our lives is fundamental to many of us in our spiritual and personal ways, and may be a universally vital part of being fully human. We can embrace the opportunity for this holiday and make it meaningful for us, but lets be real about the roots of this particular tradition, and teach the children the truth.


Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving”

by Judy Dow (Abenaki) and Beverly Slapin

What is it about the story of “The First Thanksgiving” that makes it essential to be taught in virtually every grade from preschool through high school? What is it about the story that is so seductive? Why has it become an annual elementary school tradition to hold Thanksgiving pageants, with young children dressing up in paper-bag costumes and feather-duster headdresses and marching around the schoolyard? Why is it seen as necessary for fake “pilgrims” and fake “Indians” (portrayed by real children, many of whom are Indian) to sit down every year to a fake feast, acting out fake scenarios and reciting fake dialogue about friendship? And why do teachers all over the country continue (for the most part, unknowingly) to perpetuate this myth year after year after year?
Is it because as Americans we have a deep need to believe that the soil we live on and the country on which it is based was founded on integrity and cooperation? This belief would help contradict any feelings of guilt that could haunt us when we look at our role in more recent history in dealing with other indigenous peoples in other countries. If we dare to give up the “myth” we may have to take responsibility for our actions both concerning indigenous peoples of this land as well as those brought to this land in violation of everything that makes us human. The realization of these truths untold might crumble the foundation of what many believe is a true democracy. As good people, can we be strong enough to learn the truths of our collective past? Can we learn from our mistakes? This would be our hope.

Myth: “The First Thanksgiving” occurred in 1621.
Fact: No one knows when the “first” thanksgiving occurred. People have been giving thanks for as long as people have existed. Indigenous nations all over the world have celebrations of the harvest that come from very old traditions; for Native peoples, thanksgiving comes not once a year, but every day, for all the gifts of life. To refer to the harvest feast of 1621 as “The First Thanksgiving” disappears Indian peoples in the eyes of non-Native children.

Myth: The Pilgrims found corn.
Fact: Just a few days after landing, a party of about 16 settlers led by Captain Myles Standish followed a Nauset trail and came upon an iron kettle and a cache of Indian corn buried in the sand. They made off with the corn and returned a few days later with reinforcements. This larger group “found” a larger store of corn, about ten bushels, and took it. They also “found” several graves, and, according to Mourt’s Relation, “brought sundry of the prettiest things away” from a child’s grave and then covered up the corpse. They also “found” two Indian dwellings and “some of the best things we took away with us.” (5) There is no record that restitution was ever made for the stolen corn, and the Wampanoag did not soon forget the colonists’ ransacking of Indian graves

Myth: Samoset appeared out of nowhere, and along with Squanto became friends with the Pilgrims. Squanto helped the Pilgrims survive and joined them at “The First Thanksgiving.”
Fact: Samoset, an eastern Abenaki chief, was the first to contact the Plimoth colonists. He was investigating the settlement to gather information and report to Massasoit, the head sachem in the Wampanoag territory. In his hand, Samoset carried two arrows: one blunt and one pointed. The question to the settlers was: are you friend or foe? Samoset brought Tisquantum (Squanto), one of the few survivors of the original Wampanoag village of Pawtuxet, to meet the English and keep an eye on them. Tisquantum had been taken captive by English captains several years earlier, and both he and Samoset spoke English. Tisquantum agreed to live among the colonists and serve as a translator. Massasoit also sent Hobbamock and his family to live near the colony to keep an eye on the settlement and also to watch Tisquantum, whom Massasoit did not trust. The Wampanoag oral tradition says that Massasoit ordered Tisquantum killed after he tried to stir up the English against the Wampanoag. Massasoit himself lost face after his years of dealing with the English only led to warfare and land grabs. Tisquantum is viewed by Wampanoag people as a traitor, for his scheming against other Native people for his own gain. Massasoit is viewed as a wise and generous leader whose affection for the English may have led him to be too tolerant of their ways

Myth: The Pilgrims and Indians became great friends.
Fact: A mere generation later, the balance of power had shifted so enormously and the theft of land by the European settlers had become so egregious that the Wampanoag were forced into battle. In 1637, English soldiers massacred some 700 Pequot men, women and children at Mystic Fort, burning many of them alive in their homes and shooting those who fled. The colony of Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay Colony observed a day of thanksgiving commemorating the massacre. By 1675, there were some 50,000 colonists in the place they had named “New England.” That year, Metacom, a son of Massasoit, one of the first whose generosity had saved the lives of the starving settlers, led a rebellion against them. By the end of the conflict known as “King Philip’s War,” most of the Indian peoples of the Northeast region had been either completely wiped out, sold into slavery, or had fled for safety into Canada. Shortly after Metacom’s death, Plimoth Colony declared a day of thanksgiving for the English victory over the Indians

Myth: Thanksgiving is a happy time.
Fact: For many Indian people, “Thanksgiving” is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation. As currently celebrated in this country, “Thanksgiving” is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship.

This article can be found in its entirety at:
http://www.oyate.org/resources/longthanks.html
The Plimoth Plantation of Plymouth Ma. has recently dedicated a new Exhibit, "Irreconcible Differences", that provides an insight into the relationship of the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims in the years following 1620.
More about the Wampanoag:
http://www.wampanoagtribe.net/Pages/index
http://www.pilgrims.net/native_americans/
Article by a Sioux woman on the Selling of Native Spiritual Traditions: http://www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/News2000/0800/WC000801Commentary.htm

Wha' Happen?

Who are these lovely lassies, circa 1986?

And perhaps more importantly, where are they now?

Thlolego EcoVillage in South Africa,

Findhorn in Scotland,

And the Permaculture Institute in Northern California

EcoVillage Mania

Today I got to see some old friends on national news - right here in the Sunday Washington Post. I am amused and excited! It is a pretty positive article. It is true that they are pretty much a bunch of white middle class hippies living out in the woods, and that while far from modeling utopia, the fact that the mainstream media is finally aware of ecovillages as a modern phenomena is a window of hope for me. I cannot emphasize enough the rugged dedication, physical labor and personal processes that go into such a lifestyle. Anyone who has grown up on a farm or who has homesteaded or ever been through a consensus meeting can imagine that this might be so. Like many others, I have spent several years of my life visiting and living in such places, geared towards living sustainably, and meeting people from all around the world who share this practice. When it becomes most engaging to me is when it involves people in the non-industrialized world, the working poor, urban projects, and indigenous people determined to preserve and adapt their own traditional lifestyles and values. These grassroots inspired human settlement projects are happening throughout North and Latin America, India, Australia, Africa, and elsewhere. Most people seem to have no idea that this is even happening, or have any context for imagining it. I am here to tell you, it is happening! In different ways - all over the world. Not nearly enough, however. It may not be what single handedly "saves the world", and yet it is joyous and inspiring to witness such human wisdom responding resourcefully to our modern challenges. As I see it, ecovillages do not provide "the" answer, but are part of a tide of creative solutions to our current global path of destruction, part of what may help turn the collective scale towards a saner, more sensible, more human and humane way of being in the world. Human beings are stewards, not masters of the Earth - and we will have to come to terms with this eventually. Imagine what Heaven on Earth might look like, and feel like to be a part of. At least imagine what it might mean simply to survive as a species. Imagine actually acknowledging collectively the finite nature of the resources we depend on, and learning to rebalcance our lives in rhythm. We have an incredible capacity to envision and create when we decide to. We are inextricably connected to all of life on the planet - all around and inside us. We are not only dependant on the Earth, we are Earth. Many other ways of living are indeed possible, and necessary.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111400979.html?nav=hcmodule

We need a new kind of feminism, one that stresses personal responsibility and is open to art and sex in all their dark, unconsoling mysteries. The feminist of the fin de siecle will be bawdy, streetwise, and on-the-spot confrontational, in the prankish Sixties way - Camille Paglia

I would also assert that we need to revision feminism in a way that expands to make enough room for a huge diversity of womens voices throughout the world, including specific views, needs, and interests that may be quite different from our own. We need a vision that is essentially Life-affirming and connects us all ecologically, rooted in a deep respect and conscious re-valuing for what has been traditional womens work - in particular child rearing and homemaking. Although these roles may not interest us personally, they are the sacred foundations of human culture and deserve our support as a society.

From the beginning, humanity's survival has depended upon women's sexuality. Every tribe's survival has depended upon women's capacity to give birth, to bear healthy children into the next generation.
Our ancestors understood women's birth-giving power as kin to the Power of Being that creates, sustains, and transforms the world. Their images and icons of the Sacred Feminine celebrate women's awesome ability to regenerate life. In woman's body, the Great Goddess becomes manifest.
Our sexuality is not only our capacity to bear children. It is, as well, our power to promote creation in any dimension we choose. In these times, humanity's survival depends less upon the capacity to bear children and more upon the conditions into which our children are born. Survival depends upon women birthing new ways of being and doing that promote peace, justice, and sustainable economies on our planet.


With movement and breath, we cultivate the pro-creative power seeded in our Energy Garden - our body's center.

We know ourselves as sacred beings and respect our sexuality as a sacred force of nature.

We realize that we're sexy—at our juiciest—as we express the truth of who we are.

And, we direct our pro-creative power not only for sacred pleasure but also for personal and planetary healing.

by Lisa Sarasohn Author of The Woman's Belly Book

World Dancer

Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything dances.

- Maya Angelou

Nightime Dance

Life is a dance and I am remembering how to be a World Dancer. I may have sat out the last few songs but I was tired and needed to rest and just watch, perhaps snooze for a bit and be a hermit for awhile. And yet now I am up again and dancing - moving through all of the myriad emotions, experiences, blessings, challenges, and devotions. It has everything to do with rhythm and letting go into the music of Life. One essential thing I am grateful for, it is music. It is that my life is a great dance and that my soul has inherent rhythm.